New to MB Diesels - W210 smoke at high rpm & throttle
 

Hiya,

1st post here, though I've spent a bunch of time on the sister site Pelican Parts forums for Porsche knowledge and addiction support. I recently acquired a very nicely kept '98 E300td, one owner with 68k miles. I'm using it daily as a commuter. The car is running well in my opinion, starts right up hot or cold, no codes or warning lights, seems to have good performance, etc. I've run a few tankfulls of fuel through and am getting ~28mpg with mostly highway usage running 75 mph on average, which based on what I've read online is rather normal.

The one issue I do notice that if I put my right foot down hard, she smokes a decent amount...especially noticeable at night when I've got headlights from a car behind me. It appears white, not black "coal rolling" colored. There is no smoke visible under any conditions other than opening the throttle wide, and rpms from ~2900 up. Part throttle up to about 3000 rpm doesn't create the smoke condition. Idle is smooth, though I have notice an intermittent slight miss/stumble after cold start up. Idle seems perfect when warm.

Where should I start in diagnosing and repairing the smoke issue? Sorry I have no pictures of the car yet.

There are a multitude of places that smoke can originate in a turbodiesel engine. The first step is to determine what the source is: Fuel, Timing/Injection problems, or Oil.

Fuel smoke (excess fuel / rich mixture) will produce black smoke.

Timing or Injection problems will produce white or grey smoke (this can also be compression issues). If you get a waft of this type of smoke, it will usually burn your eyes too and have an acrid smell to it due to the unburnt fuel vapor.

Oil will produce blue or bluish-grey smoke. This has a pretty unmistakable smell too (not pleasant).

It should be noted that a very slight amount of smoke isn't entirely abnormal. Cheap things first: check the air filter, if it's clogged you can certainly be generating a bit of smoke. Other cheap things to start with: Run some Diesel Purge or other type of cleaning agent through the fuel system, you could just be gummy/mucky/dirty.

I have a 97 e300td over here in the UK and what you describe is perfectly normal.
I also had a Bmw 525tds and that was exactly the same.
I normally run 100% biodiesel all year round but there are rare occasions I have none available and use diesel and end up running a mix of the two or just neat diesel and the hue in following cars headlights is exactly the same as you describe at full pedal travel .
Nothing to worry about , and my mileage is also constantly between 28-30mpg average all year round.

My 98 will throw a small smoke cloud if pressed hard, such as full pedal to merge on a freeway. Nothing to be concerned about if that is all you see.

I would be more concerned about the rough idle when cold, that typically means you have a glow plug that is failing. I would also look at pulling the injectors and sending them to forum member greazzer to have them rebuilt.

Also check the condition of your motor mounts, I just replaced mine and it made a huge difference.

I have this exact same car as yours so fire away with questions!

Thanks for confirming the smoke at large throttle opening is a factory feature. Obviously the newer diesels have eliminated that behavior. I must confess that I enjoy stomping it and sending a bit of smoke back when some jerk is riding my rear bumper too closely (I do keep right except to pass, even though it's not in fashion around these parts).

Will look into testing glow plugs...will be a good first foray into DIYing this rig. I'm also trying to get in touch with the original owner to see about maintenance records. This person traded the car into an RV dealer as down payment on a new class C motor home, and I bought from the RV dealer. Someone babied this car. My 2nd MB purchase this year, first being 2000 SL500 that introduced me to the brand. Liked it so much decided I'd have another.

If you truly enjoy throwing a bit of black smoke, get it chip tuned like I did mine.

The newer models don't smoke at all. My 2008 ML's computer will not let it smoke no matter how hard you floor it. The common rail system will not let it inject more fuel than it can burn. The particulate filters take care of the rest.

Indirect (mechanical) injected engines do not have as tight a control on the fuel quantity, so they will smoke under heavy load.

Just remember with the current political climate that heavy smoke is now a bad thing. Unfortunately VW really killed the perception of diesel in the US, even though they got caught not for particulates (the black smoke) but oxides of nitrogen (invisible but supposedly very bad). But most people equate black smoke to killing the planet.

^I'd prefer no smoke really...but if its standard equipment, I'll use it sparingly as a "get off my butt" device without remorse. I normally don't see a need to goose the engine as it moves along quite well without it. Not a fan at all of coal-rollers in diesel rigs belching black clouds. I've logged over 15k miles commuting on a motorcycle this year between PA and NYC - no cabin air filter so I have to breathe what comes out of the vehicle in front of me. This new to me turbo diesel has taken over commuter chore as weather is not conducive to 2 wheeled vehicles.

One good tip for the snow:
On the console next to the shifter is a switch that says W and S.
In S the car starts off in 1st gear and engages a more aggressive (higher ratio) reverse gear.
In W the car starts off in 2nd gear and engages a gentler (smaller ratio) reverse gear.
Yes there are two reverse gears in this transmission.

There are numerous debates as to the meanings of W and S but I think of it as Winter and Summer. Although we don't get much snow in SC, I've found it's better to put it in W in the rain, or you can break the rear tires loose when trying to pull out into traffic on wet pavement in S mode.

Link to owners manual if yours did not come with one: http://www.w124performance.com/docs/mb/W210/1998_E300_E320_E430_Owners_Manual.pdf

Interesting tidbit on 2 reverse gears. I do have the owners manual and all the original books that came with the car when new. This car has the same transmission as the SL500, which also has the same winter/summer switch. I haven't encountered any real snow yet, but I'm ready. Bought a set of spare wheels off Craigslist and had them mounted up with Bridgestone Blizzaks which I will bolt up as soon as the forecast calls for it.

Thought S was for Sport mode. No idea about W.

Before you go monkeying around with the glow plugs on this thing, read up on them. They can be extremely difficult to remove, leaving them snapped off in the head. My adventure with that lead to a teardown and the head going to the machine shop.

Already read up on that topic and in no rush to put a wrench on those things. I will test them with ohmmeter before I do anything else. The engine starts up perfectly, even as low as 10 degrees F, so I don't know if there is anything wrong with the glowplugs.

Happy New Year
 

Hi folks,

My first DIY completed this weekend: oil and filter change, plus air filter. Air filter was pretty dirty and the airbox had a bit of leaves and dead bugs collected in there (enough that I busted out the shop vac to clean it out). I like the convenient jack points on this car. Overall a nice 1st experience turning wrenches on this rig. Some pics of my new rig:

https://photos.smugmug.com/By-Land/M...DSC_1430-L.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/By-Land/M...DSC_1433-L.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/By-Land/M...DSC_1434-L.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/By-Land/M...DSC_1438-L.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/By-Land/M...DSC_1439-L.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/By-Land/M...DSC_1440-L.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/By-Land/M...DSC_1446-L.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/By-Land/M...DSC_1441-L.jpg

Wow that looks nice. Mine just like yours except I have smoke silver (aka gold) exterior. And mine has 240k, still kicking.

Here is a link to a mod I did to my audio system. Your car should have the speakers under the grills on the left and right side of the dash that are for the factory cell phone. That stereo has the plug for the cd changer even if your car did not come with it.

Last I checked this Parrot kit is still available from Amazon.

It pretty much makes the stereo have modern conveniences - hands free cell phone and Bluetooth streaming.
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/car-audio-multimedia/336476-analog-cell-phone-update-1998-w210.html

And a couple maintenance and repair threads I wrote

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/363054-check-those-front-wheel-bearings.html

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/377507-w210-compressor-seized.html

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/383071-w210-e300-turbo-motor-mounts.html

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/341600-attn-om606-inspect-under-engine-cover.html

Good luck and keep the salt washed off, the W210s of that era don't like it.